How to Use a Mantram
Every major religion has a mantram, often more than one. If you have no affiliation with a religion, however, you can still use a mantram and benefit from it. I have heard countless times from confirmed skeptics and agnostics that the mantram came to their help just when they needed it, though they hadn’t expected it to mean anything to them at all.
One of the oldest and most popular mantrams in India, Rama, is the one Mahatma Gandhi used. Rama (the word rhymes with drama) is a name of the Lord that comes from a word meaning “joy” or “to rejoice,” so repeating Rama, Rama, Rama is calling on the source of joy in our hearts. When someone comes to me for a mantram and says that he or she doesn’t believe in God or belong to any particular religion, this is the mantram I most often give them. It is short, rhythmic, easy to remember, and powerful.
Another mantram I often give is the Buddhist phrase Om mani padme hum. Mani means “jewel” and padme “lotus”; together the words refer to “the jewel in the lotus of the heart.” This mantram simply means that the Buddha-nature, a jewel beyond price, is present in every heart.
The Catholic tradition has a beautiful mantram in the simple words Ave Maria. In the Eastern Orthodox traditions, variations of the Jesus Prayer – “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us,” or simply Kyrie eleison – have been used for centuries. And for Christians of all traditions, the very name of Jesus is one of the oldest mantrams of all.
Similarly, in Islam, the name of Allah itself is a mantram. Another is Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.” Jews may repeat the familiar Barukh attah Adonai – “Blessed art thou, O Lord” – or a revered formula used as a mantram by the Hasidim: Ribono shel olam, “Lord of the universe.”
Select your mantram carefully. Please don’t make up your own; use one that has been sanctified by tradition, as have all the ones I recommend here. Then, once you have chosen, stick to it. Don’t try one for a while and then change to another. If you do, you will be like a person who keeps digging wells in many places; you will never strike water.
Whatever mantram you choose, repeat it to yourself silently, in the mind, whenever you find yourself getting agitated or speeded up. That is when you will discover its power. When you have a quarrel with somebody at work, for example, you have to deal with the situation somehow, so what do you do? No amount of telling yourself “I really shouldn’t get angry over this little incident” is likely to slow down a mind that is already in turmoil. That is the time to use one of the simplest strategies taught in all great spiritual traditions. Instead of reacting with hostility or sitting in silence while your mind seethes with anger, simply repeat your mantram silently until you feel calm again.
This is particularly effective when you can combine it with a good, fast walk. Just a turn around the block or up and down a flight of stairs helps greatly. This is one of the easiest methods of reducing the speed of the mind. There is a close connection between the rhythm of the mantram, the rhythm of the footstep, the rhythm of breathing, and the rhythm of the mind.
Use your mantram as much as possible – silently, in the mind – whenever you find an opportunity: while waiting in line, while doing mechanical tasks like washing dishes, and especially while falling asleep at night. Practice – diligent, determined practice – is what counts with the repetition of the mantram. At first the repetition may seem mechanical, but every repetition takes you a little deeper. Gandhi used to say it’s like walking: each step is like all the others, but you are moving forward with every stride.
Of course, when you are doing a job that requires attention, you should not try to use the mantram. That is the time to give your complete attention to the job. Most work requires this kind of attention. When operating a piece of machinery, one-pointed attention is not just training the mind; it is vital for safety. (Driving, incidentally, is operating a particularly dangerous piece of machinery.) These are not times for the mantram.
However, there are many, many occasions during the day when the mind is not actively engaged in a one-pointed task, and those are just the times when it tends to get caught in old, compulsive habits – worry, resentment, insecurity, gossip, replaying old recordings from the past. These are all times to use the mantram instead.
You can use the mantram to invigorate the mind when you are getting bored, and to overcome inertia when you feel physically or mentally stale. And you can use it to control restlessness when the mind is speeding up. The mantram is an indispensable tool that I recommend to anyone who wants to find peace in a world of stress and hurry.
The Books of Eknath Easwaran
Eknath Easwaran
Eknath Easwaran (1910–1999) is respected around the world as an authentic guide to timeless wisdom, and as the originator of passage meditation, an eight-point program of universal spiritual practices that includes slowing down and one-pointed attention. In 1961 he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, which carries on his work with publications and retreats. His translations of the Indian spiritual classics are bestsellers in English, and more than 1.5 million of his books are in print.
A gifted teacher who lived for many years in the West, Easwaran lived what he taught, giving him enduring appeal as a teacher and author of deep insight and warmth.
The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation
The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation publishes Eknath Easwaran’s books, videos, and audio recordings, and offers retreats and a free online course on meditation. For more information:
Box 256, Tomales, California 94971
Telephone: +1 707 878 2369
Toll-free in the US: +1 800 475 2369
Facsimile: +1 707 878 2375
E-mail: [email protected]
www.easwaran.org
blog.easwaran.org
facebook.easwaran.org
twitter.easwaran.org
youtube.easwaran.org
Passage Meditation
Bringing the Deep Wisdom of the Heart into Daily Life
In Easwaran’s universal method of passage meditation, you choose a spiritual text, or passage, from the world’s great traditions that embodies your highest ideals. You memorize it, and then send it deep into consciousness through slow, sustained attention. With regular practice, the passages become lifelines, taking you to the source of wisdom deep within and then guiding you through all the challenges of daily life.
Eknath Easwaran taught passage meditation to thousands of people for over forty years, including a course at the University of California. Meditation is supported by seven other points in Easwaran’s practical spiritual program, helping you to stay calm, kind, and focused throughout the day. Thoroughly tested, consistent and clear, this book is all you need to start meditating.
The Mantram Handbook
A Practical Guide to Choosing Your Mantram & Calming Your Mind
A mantram (or mantra) is a short, powerful spiritual formula or prayer word from the world’s great traditions. Examples include Rama, Rama, used by Gandhi; My God and My All, used by Saint Francis of Assisi; and the Buddhist mantram, Om mani padme hum.
Easwaran explains how to choose a mantram, and shows through stories and examples how it can be repeated silently anytime, anywhere, to help calm the mind and access our deepest wisdom.
Repeat your chosen mantram when you are worried, angry, or caught in regrets, and it will guide and comfort you like a true friend.
God Makes the Rivers to Flow
An Anthology of the World’s Sacred Poetry & Prose
Easwaran drew deep, endurng inspiration from the sacred literature of all traditions. The 149 texts in this anthology come from the much-loved saints, sages, and scriptures of the Christian, Hindu, Sufi, Jewish, Native American, Buddhist, and Taoist traditions. These passages can be read for daily inspiration, for their insights into other spiritual traditions, for sustenance
when we feel sad or tired, and for the deep transformation they can bring in Easwaran’s method of passage meditation.
Rich supporting material includes detailed background notes, suggestions for memorization and for studying the texts in practices such as lectio divina from the Christian tradition, and instruction in passage meditation.
Strength in the Storm
Creating Calm in Difficult Times
We can’t always control what life sends us, but we can choose how we respond, and that is largely a matter of quieting the agitation in the mind. It’s a simple idea, but one that runs deep – a truly calm mind can weather any storm.
And we learn to calm the mind through practice – there’s no magic about it. Easwaran offers insights, stories, practical techniques, and exercises that will help us release the wisdom we need to ride the waves of life minute by minute, day by day.
Conquest of Mind
Take Charge of Your Thoughts & Reshape Your Life Through Meditation
Getting caught in unwanted thoughts and emotions can feel like an inevitable part of life. But Easwaran, who taught meditation for over forty years, shows a way to break free. Just as a fitness routine can result in a strong, supple body, spiritual disciplines can shape a secure personality and a resilient, loving mind.
Writing as an experienced, friendly coach, Easwaran explains how we can train the mind not just during meditation but throughout the day. Working with difficult colleagues, choosing what to eat, and listening to a child’s needs are all opportunities to try out different, wiser responses.
To shed light on the thinking process, Easwaran takes the timeless teachings of the Buddha and other mystics and illustrates them with scenes from contemporary life. Training the mind is a great adventure, one that brings joy and purpose to life.
Gandhi the Man
How One Man Changed Himself to Change the World
Eknath Easwaran grew up in India and witnessed how Gandhi inspired people of all races, backgrounds, and religions to turn anger into compassion and hatred into love.
How had Gandhi done this? How had he transormed himself from an ineffective young lawyer into the Mahatma, the “great soul” who led 400 million Indians in their non-violent struggle for independence from the British Empire? To find out, Easwaran went to Gandhi’s ashram and watched the Mahatma absorbed in meditation on the Bhagavad Gita, the wellspring of his spiritual strength.
Easwaran gives a moving account of the turning points and choices in Gandhi’s life that made him not just a great political leader but also a timeless icon of nonviolence in every aspect of life.
This new edition includes over 70 digitally restored photographs, a detailed chronology with maps and notes, a new introduction by Easwaran, and an updated foreword by Michael Nagler, professor emeritus and cofounder of the Peace and Conflict Studies program, University of California, Berkeley.
Nilgiri Press
All rights reserved. Second edition December 2012
ISBN (this e-book) : 978-1-58638-096-0
ISBN (paperback) : 978–1–58638–095–3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006928864
Nilgiri Press is the publishing division of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, a nonprofit organization founded by Eknath Easwaran in 1961. The Center also offers retreats based on the eight-point program of passage meditation that Easwaran developed and practiced. For information please visit www.easwaran.org, call 800 475 2369 (USA) or 707 878 2369 (international and local), or write:
The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation,
Box 256, Tomales, CA 94971–0256, USA.
www.easwaran.org
Take Your Time Page 14